There are several trains from [[Thessaloniki]]. Slow trains take 6h (9€), fast ''IC''s take only 4 1/2h (16€).

There are several trains from [[Thessaloniki]]. Slow trains take 6h (9€), fast ''IC''s take only 4 1/2h (16€).

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Train connections are frequent to the rest of the country, though the rail-link toward Bulgaria via [[Dikea]] has been canceled still further notice. Trains are running only to Dikea, 15km of the Bulgarian border. No buses to the border city of [[Svilengrad]], taxi and hitchhiking being the only options to acces Svilengrad and the extensive Bulgarian rail network.

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Train connections are relatively frequent to the rest of the country, though the rail link to [[Bulgaria]] via [[Dikea]] has been canceled until further notice. Trains are running only to Dikea, 15km short of the Bulgarian border. There are no buses from Dikea to the border city of [[Svilengrad]], with taxi and [[hitchhiking]] being the only options to access Svilengrad and the extensive Bulgarian rail network for the time being.

===By bus===

===By bus===

Line 39:

Line 39:

==Sleep==

==Sleep==

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There are no cheap youth hostels, but a couple of mid-range hotels by the seaside. Backpackers often just stay at the beach near the train station.

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There are no cheap youth hostels, but a couple of mid-range hotels by the seaside. Backpackers often just stay at the beach near the train station.

Contents

Understand

Alexandroupolis is a small town with a harbour and an airport. Though the Lonely Planet describes it as "dusty", it has a rocky beach, and a typical Greek nightlife.

Alexandroupolis is the last major Greek town before the Turkish border on the highway to Istanbul.

Get in

By plane

There are four flight every day linking the city to Athens by Olympic Airlines [1], and Aegean Air [2].

By train

There are several trains from Thessaloniki. Slow trains take 6h (9€), fast ICs take only 4 1/2h (16€).

Train connections are relatively frequent to the rest of the country, though the rail link to Bulgaria via Dikea has been canceled until further notice. Trains are running only to Dikea, 15km short of the Bulgarian border. There are no buses from Dikea to the border city of Svilengrad, with taxi and hitchhiking being the only options to access Svilengrad and the extensive Bulgarian rail network for the time being.

By bus

National Network of Buses or KTEL operates a frequent schedule of buses to all the major cities of the country. Shutle buses depart twice daily to Athens (approximately 8–9 hours) and there are hourly connections to Thessaloniki.

OSE, the national train operator, has set a daily bus shuttle to Istanbul that departs the main station early (around 7AM) every morning. Tickets are usually easy to find and can be booked in the ticket office.

By car

By boat

Get around

See

Lighthouse.

Do

Birdwatching. You can go birdwatching for sotos, a rare speciment of a bird that has resided for years in Balkans.

Buy

Eat

Drink

Sleep

There are no cheap youth hostels, but a couple of mid-range hotels by the seaside. Backpackers often just stay at the beach near the train station.
There is also a camping located right on the beach.

Contact

Get out

Ferries to the island of Samothrace just to south of city leave mostly twice a day—but irregularly. There is a fast one (taking an hour and costing €17.70 pp), and a slower one also for cars (taking 3h and costing €8.80 pp). Tickets have to be bought in a travel agency near the port.

One of the reasons to visit Alexandroupolis is to take the train to the border station of Pythion and change to train to Istanbul there.